Propulsion of vessels.



C. H. FWLER.

PROPULSION 0F VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED IuNE 30. I9I4.

1,163,075. PIIIIIIIIQII Dec. 7, 1915.

COLUMBIA PLANUURAPH c0..wAsIIINGTON. D. c

CARL n. rownna, or new Yoan, n. Y.

PROPULSION OF VESSLS.

Lll, i

Application filed June 30, 1314.

To all whom t may concern:

yBe it known that l, CARL H. FowLnn, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Propulsion of following is a specification. My invention relates to boats and is particularly directed to the provision of means whereby a boat be adapted to be pro` pelled through shallow water at a fair rate of speed. y

Especially is my invention directed to the provision of means whereby a light draft boat of ordinary construction may readily be modilied to permit its propulsion by a screw propeller, the blade diameter of which is greater than the depth of water through which the vessel may safely navigate.

Briefly, l provide a propeller chamber by securing' an arched hood to the stern of the vessel. so as to form what is virtually a tunnel external to the hull but vattached there to. This construction can be made in the simplest form where the stern of the vessel is of under-cut or overhanging construction to which the archedhood can be conveniently setau'ed.v "Where the vessel has little or no over-hanging stern l provide an apy proach to the propeller chamber by making a slight'modiiication of the hull so as to give an easy approach for the water used by the propeller in the propeller chamber. case a propeller chamber practically constitutes a tunnel of which the forward part is within the lines of the hull and the after part is within the arched lhood or tunnel external to the hull. rlhis arched hood is approximately air tight, rises above the normal water line of the boat, and usually to a height above the keel line of the boat slightly greaterthan the diameter of the propeller. The lower edges of the hood are below the water line of the boat atits minimum draft and usually a little above `the heel line. Within the chamber or tunnel thus formed the propeller is rotated, the chamberfbeing i kept filled with water by the means herein described. The air may with some types of propellers and engines be entirely exhausted from the propeller chamber by the rotation of the screw alone, and thus a solid body of water secured within the propeller chamber Y and thereafter maintained there by atmospheric pressure. Preferably, however, ll provide a vacuum chamber within the hull Specification of Letters atent.

Vessels, of which the y ln such y Patented Dee. i915. Serial No. 848,127.

by means of a vacuum pump or other device f whereby the propeller chamber and at least part if .not all of the vacuum chamber above theL same are kept constantly filled with water, and the propeller is thus given a solid resisting medium in which to operate. By these means many boatsof ordinary construction and which cannoty now operate efliciently in shallow waters or when running in light draft, can be given the practical beneits of a tunnel system without re-modeling the hull of the boats, and by the means described these boats can always be given a solid body ofgwater of practically any desired density within the propeller chamber and under all conditions of load or water line or ydepth of water. By means of the vacuum chamber a column of water of any desired height can be maintained by atmospheric pressure over the propeller chamber and thus give the propeller operating atthe surface or even above the surface of the surrounding river or lake, water of the same ciaracter that the propeller would have if greater than the draft of the boat and at the f same time be driven byra propeller of comparatively large diameter which mayv be greater than the depth of water in which the boat operates, the propeller being at all times provided with a substantially solid body of water inthe chamber in which it rotates.` 'lhis construction enables the propeller to all times operate eflicientlyand without the loss of power which is always experienced Y when the propeller ordinarily located at the stern of a boat rotates in surface waters. lt, prevents splashing and lin order that my invention may be more clearly understood, attention is hereby disame to have `churning of the waters into foamr and also rected to the accompanying drawings form- -usual light draft construction,

manner, as

' ingsticksor roots or vention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section through the boat taken on line 1--1 of Fig. 2' and Fig. 2 y

represents a transverse section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a vertical longitudinal section ythrough a boat which doesnot have an overhanging stern and consequently a modification of the hull -is made so that' it contains a short tunnel V4within-"the hull to make an'approach forlthe water used by the propeller. Fig. 4 represents la crossse'ction of the hull, taken on line 4--4 of Referring to thedrawings, boat 1y is' of a being, for example,a flat bottomed. canal boat. The overhanging stern 2 of the boat has secured thereto the hood 3 which may be of any arched construction as shown in Fig. 2. Propeller shaft k'4 rotated by engine 4l withinfthe hull of the boat 'extends through the stern of the boat'intofthe chamber 5 formed by yhood 3. Propeller Gis secured'to the end of shaft 4 withinfchamber by the walls of which it is entirely inclosed. The overhanging end of Vshaft v4 may, if desired, be supported from the stern of the boat in any suitable by means of a bracket 7.

A series ofdeflecting bars 8, closelylspaced together,-are Vpreferably provided at the bottom of chamber 5 in advance of propeller 6 to protect the latter from'injury from iio'atbranches oftrees'and the like,V or an lequivalent device may be v"-used. As illustrated, bars 8 are approxivbelow 'the keel-line,

matelyhorizo'ntal andextend from the stern of they boat at approximately the keel-line to a point adjacent to the lower edge of propeller', these` bars being supported in any Vsuitable manner. Y

Hood-3 isof 4suiiicient height tofinclose the propeller 6 which preferably is located entirely above thev keel line of the boat, although it may, ofcourse, extend somewhat in which case la somewhat greater depth of watervwould be required "f'o'r'the passage ofthe boat. The lower edges ofthe hood extend sufliciently far belowlthe'water Vline to veffectively seal chamber 5,- except possibily in the case ofan unusually "heavy lurch -cf the boat. As shO'w-nthe lower rear edges ofy thehoo'd Aextend toa kpoint below the minimumwater line W, and'- preferably to a point:- between ythe same and the keel-line K ofthe boat.

The forward Tand side /edgesofthefhood likewise Yextend below the minimum water line. 'The' forward walls of the hoodv are protected by the stern ofthe vessel-to which they 'nare' secured yand 'accordingly do not need to bebraced. The rearwalllO'offthe chamber has to withstand 1'the pressure of 1914. lf, as is within vention,vacuum chamber 13 is not provided,

the stream of water discharged by the propeller and accordingly should be of sufficient streng h to withstand the same and be effectively braced. As illustrated, a rigid member orl members 11 may be interposed between the verhanging part of the stern and the upper part of the rear wall 10 ofthe hood, the lower and rear end of the hood lbeing supported and braced by a member or members l2 secured to the stern of the boat. The rear wall of the chamber is inclined rearwardly and downwardly so as to interpose as little resistance to the water in chamber `5 as is practical andto direct the stream from the propeller at a downward angle. Y

l/Vhere the boat does not have an overhanging rstern as shownin Fig. 1, but has a stern which vis'inore nearly perpendicular, or hasbut a small amount of overhang'to the stern, then a modification of the hull is desirable sc as to secure an easier approach for the water used bythe propeller. Suche4 proposed arrangement isA shown in Fig. 3, in which the dotted line 17 shows the regularline of the hull at the stern, which fora short distance is cut away arched chamber for the tunnel as shcwnfby line 18. Fig. 4 hows the .cross-'section through the hull at line 44-4 of Fig. 3, showing the construction of that part of the tunnel or propeller chamber which in this form gf my invention, lies within the hull of the The boatis preferably provided with a vacuum chamber 13 whichis mounted at a higher level than propeller chamber 5 and preferably is directly bove the same as illustrated. This may be provided for by vmaking a suitable opening in the stern of the boat, as illustrated, communicating with chamber 5 and mounting chamber13 above the same upon-a base member 14 secured to the inside of the stern surrounding the opening referred to. Air may be exhausted from chamber 13 by suitable means through connection 15, and the levelk of the ywater within chamber 13 may be automatically regulated by means of a pivoted fioat and link connection 16 whichextends to a device (not illustrated) for automatically controlling the operation lof a vacuum pump whereby the vacuum chamber is 'exhausted. This latter feature is not claimed'hereim but is described and claimed in my copendingapplication entitled lmproved shallow water boat 7, Serial No. 848,126, filedy on June 30,y

the scope of my inchamb'er 5 should have a connection-to a vacuum pump whereby the air withinchamber 5 mayinitially and ymay subsequently be further exhausted 'if too lmuch n air "collects in fthe -propeller lchamber.. 1

asl

to form avroof or y be partially exhausted v iso Having now particularly described my in vention, what l claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is asy follows zl. ln a Vessel, the combination of a hull having a longitudinally extending chamber' formed in the after part of the bottom of the same, open at the bottom and extending at an inclination upwardly from the bottom of the Vessel to the stern and extending through the stern of the vessel, and a hood secured to the stern of the vessel, and extend* ing downwardly at an inclination to the rear, from the stern, to form togetherV with the chamber in the bottom of the hull a substantially air-tight continuous propeller chamber having an upwardly rearwardly sloping front wall within the hull and a downwardly, rearwardly sloping rear wall external to the hull, said combined chamber extending vabove the normal water line of the vessel and at its lower edges below the minimum water line of the vessel, a propeller shaft extending into said chamber and a propeller thereon within said chamber, substantially as set forth.

2. In a vessel, the combination of a hull having a longitudinally extending chamber formed in the after part of the bottom of the same, open at the bottom and extending upwardly at an inclination from the bottom of the vessel and extending through the stern of the Vessel, and a hood secured iixedly to the stern of the Vessel to form together with ythe chamber in the bottom of the hull a substantially air-tight continuous propeller chamber, the front wall of which is formed within the hull and the downwardly sloping rvas setvforth.

3. In a vessel the combination of a hull having a longitudinally extending chamber formed in the after part of the bottomy of the same, open at the bottom and extending at an inclination upwardly from the bottom of the vessel toward the stern and extending through the stern of the Vessel, and a hood secured iixedly to the stern of the vessel and having surfaces extending downwardly at an inclination to the rear, to form, together with the chamber in the bottom of the hull, a. substantially air-tight-propeller chamber extending above the normal water line of the Vessel and at its lower edges below the minimum water line yof the vessel, and a propeller in said propeller chamber, substantially as set forth. v

This specification signed and kwitnessed this 27th day of June, 1914. f

CARL H. FOWLER.

Witnesses:

H. R. BROWN, CHARLES W. TrrrrN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

